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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining pay in North Dakota and South Carolina
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining is $90,380 per year in North Dakota. It is $52,580 per year in South Carolina. North Dakota is 71.9% above South Carolina on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 47-5022 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 220 wage and salary jobs in North Dakota and 330 in South Carolina. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings